LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE MARCH-SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Page 40

Ex-soldier Harry Parker, who lost his legs in Afghanistan, has
written a war novel with a difference
“It’s quite a weird book, isn’t it?” suggests Harry Parker in his
publisher’s office on a grey Tuesday morning. “Weird” may be
overstating things, but Anatomy of a Soldier feels like a new take on the
war novel. Following characters from both sides of an unnamed conflict,
it’s told from the point of view of various inanimate objects (a bike, dog
tags, a bag of fertiliser). The effect is both disorienting and captivating.
Parker’s novel is grounded in grim personal reality. After serving in
Iraq, a tour of Afghanistan came shuddering to a halt when the 32-yearold was wounded in the field, losing both legs. “I stepped on a bomb,”
he says simply.

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